Friday, March 11, 2011

About Walker, British Media Pull No Punches

Not the kind of reporting we see here in the colonies.

Here's the opening:

"Scott Walker's real agenda in Wisconsin

"The Republican governor's budget plan would open the state up to a corporate asset-grab not seen since robber baron capitalism.
"Republican Governor Scott Walker's 'budget repair bill' would pave the way for wholesale privatisation of Wisconsin's state infrastructure. 
"On Wednesday evening, in a veritable Night of the Long Knives, Wisconsin's integrity was brutally murdered on the floor of the state Capitol in Madison."
And lest you say, ah, that's just the lefty Guardian - - Walker is getting raked over the coals in Forbes, which bills itself as "a leading source for reliable business news and financial information."

And for good measure, Forbes nails Scott Fitzgerald, too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a seriously GREAT article. Just great. And I have been thinking all this week, that if there was any doubt that the profession and practice of Journalism is dead here, that doubt has now been removed by the way the Walker fiasco has been handled. When professionals, faced with historic and mind-boggling events, respond like blushing and bewildered 1950s maiden aunts who are loathe to say numerous things (which are true and may even save lives) because it just isn't NICE, well you know the game is completely over. I hope SOMEONE is keeping good records of events because the scholars of the future are NOT going to be going through newspapers looking for information or facts as they have been able to do in past times.
Unless of course they're thesis is an analysis of the possible psychoses of various pundits etc. But acts, and a real sense of an era, no.
An EC station is sending the most brain-fuzzed young woman to "capture" the feel and reality of Madison Saturday. I had occasion to be in a restaurant while she did a "blonde on the street" interview about 'are you afraid to eat eggs this Sunday...or not"? Watching her work and set up her camera and "prime" her interviewees, it was worse than seeing the final product on TV. It was all awkward tripod-y and self-conscious hair-flippy, but she felt so edgy there in the Family Cafe talking to really really old guys about their Sunday eggs. But yeah, she's our own little Scud Stud, off to capture the moment there in that big exciting city. Making STRENUOUS efforts to be so "balanced" in her reporting that she says really nothing, probably having more angst over what her "banter" will be as she hands off to the idiots back home than what might actually be going on around her. And the hair flip! don't forget that!
Just so horrifying.

Anonymous said...

i have several typos but whatevs. I tried.
"their" not they're and "facts" not "acts. *sigh*

enoughalready said...

Key lines: The Wisconsin brand has always centered on integrity. This was really about the only distinctive comparative advantage the state could lay claim to. Now, it is gone.